Danny Williams' feta and spinach frittata -- The Co-operative recipe

[sealie]

I think that it is basically obvious that everyone that has spent thirty seconds in Seolh, that I like to cook (not that fond of cleaning up, though). However, I’m very much a fundamentally theoretical (aka imaginary) cook, but in the same way I consider you guys to be residents of The Co-operative – you can experience things by thinking… like cooking and eating is (almost) as good as actually eating and cooking. There’s ingredients and equipment that I’ll never get my hands on.

But writing The Co-operative has actually taught me a lot. I have now drank Albariño. But I have not tried Asafoetida. If I ate curry (long story involving a very upset tummy) I would be able to prepare a Murgh Makhani.

I just made a spinach and feta frittata, which was outstandingly tasty. It’s a very Danny dish. I sort of kind of made it up. And here’s the recipe ‘cos I don’t think that it is going to go in the story.

Ingredients
Dash of really good Zatoun Fair Trade olive oil
Oil from bacon fried earlier in the day for a delicious bacon sandwich
1 large onion, chopped
Minced garlic clove or two (world’s your oyster)
Chopped up about a handful sundried tomatoes (I like Suma)
Spinach leaves (about two handfuls)
Two or three handfuls of organic potatoes from the Holy Island of Lindisfarne (from a lovely roadside stall)
Dash of lemon juice (Marks and Spencer’s organic Sicilian lemon juice is lovely)
As much cubed sheep’s milk feta cheese as you like
4 organic eggs, beaten with a slop of soya mike and twist of Mediterranean flower salt (which is really tasty, and contains flowers)
Freshly milled sea salt.

Method
Oven gas 6 (which translates at 200C/180C fan – err 392 Farenheit). Find yourself an unsticky oven proof dish about 30 cm by 20 cm (11 by 8 inches – precision doesn’t really matter) and put it in the oven.

Peel and chop up the potatoes into a 1-2cm cubes (small, like half an inch), throw into a bowl, cover with water and microwave for 5 mins on high to par boil. Drain off the water and throw into the hot non-stick dish with the bacon fat (or olive oil if you don’t have/want bacon fat). Sprinkle with sea salt. Roast the potatoes for about 25 minutes. Toss them about halfway through the cooking time

Whilst that’s happening, do the other stuff.

Fry the onions with the garlic with olive oil until it’s the way that you like it – golden or crispy. Chop up the sundried tomatoes (I generally just use scissors for chopping). Toss them in the onions and garlic when they are about done. Throw in the spinach and dash over some lemon juice (it makes the iron in the spinach more bio-available). Use your scissors to chop up and mix the spinach whilst it is cooking.

As the spinach is wilting cut the feta cheese into tiny little squares. Haul the roast potatoes out of the oven. Beat the eggs in a bowl, add a glug of soya (or cow) milk, and flower salt (or normal salt).

Toss the spinach, onion and garlic mix into the dish with the half-roasted potatoes. Mix them up. Toss over the cubes of feta cheese. Distribute things until they are spread evenly. Pour over the eggy mix.

Finally, cook in the oven for 20-25 mins until golden and set.

Prolly serves 3-4 (with a salad). Or cool and put in the fridge and you can have it for packed lunches instead of sandwiches.

Comments

[lodondria.livejournal.com]

lovely idea. I'll have to try that on a day when Huz is likely to be hungry enough to accept spinach.

Asafoetida powder (Hing) is something I use occasionally in dishes when I want an onion note without the onion. It smells like onions once it's cooked, at least to me, though I also don't find the raw odor particularly offensive.

[jimandblair.livejournal.com]

the spinach (chopped enough) melds with the dish, it isn't over powering. I like raw spinach but cooked as a complement not as a significant portion of the dish. So whilst I figure it could have a lot more in. I didn't. A friend, who told me how to make fritatta, grates courgettes in. Blergh, I'll have to screw up courage to try that.